Spago House Dressing

By Andrew Hunter

This is salad season and we like to take full advantage of summer’s garden crops. Fresh summer vegetables are so delicious, they need an equally delicious dressing.

Our favorite is the house dressing at Spago, Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant in Beverly Hills, where the stars dine.

This time of year, when the temperatures are soaring, salads are always a welcome addition to the family table. We love to buy the season’s freshest veggies that we find at the market to make salads like the recipe in our Farmer’s Market Tour post.

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My L.A.

By Andrew Hunter

Five years ago we packed our bags and moved from San Francisco to L.A. completely unaware of the vast difference between Northern and Southern California. We replaced fog with smog, foghorns with police helicopters, and sourdough bread with taco stands. At first these differences were intolerable, but I must confess I’ve grown quite fond of this sprawling city. It’s now my L.A.

The restaurants in San Francisco tend to be more formal affairs where kids are less welcome. Since we eat out often, but rarely without the boys, the “everyone’s welcome” attitude of the southland better fits our lifestyle. Even at Spago, arguably L.A.’s finest, Wolfgang is glad to see kids of all ages dining at his tables. The boys love the Weiner Schnitzel, but more often crave old school hard-shell tacos.

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Abbondanza!

By Andrew Hunter

In the fashion world, the philosophy of “less is more” often applies, but in the food world, “more is better” wins the day. Chefs like to impress with flavor, spice and big presentations. That’s why expressions like, “Bam!” and “Kick it up a notch!” are so popular.

Wolfgang used to say, “Abbondanza!” to me when I was creating a new plate for the dining room. Abbondanza means “abundance” in Italian, but to Wolfgang Puck it means more meat, more veggies, more color, more flavor, more height, more everything! The more, the merrier.

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